On the whistle: Your Sunderland questions on dugout dilemma, Timothée Pembélé and transfer strategy answered

Sunderland fell to a sixth defeat in a row against Southampton on Saturday afternoon and as ever, Phil Smith took your #onthewhistle questions and comments as part of our post-match video review.

You can see that video at the top of this article or over on our YouTube page. As per usual, a couple of days later and with a crucial game against QPR ahead, Phil has revisited the most common questions and talking points amongst supporters for this column...

Is there any chance of the board hiring a manager before the end of the season?

I think it's unlikely for a few reasons. For one, the main reason Sunderland initially opted to hire Michael Beale was because they found that some of their preferred candidates were unattainable midseason (I'd argue that was a strong case for not sacking Tony Mowbray, but that's a different matter). That situation clearly won't change until the summer.

I think the other reason that we won't see a change is that, not unreasonably, the feeling is that Mike Dodds has been dealt a very difficult hand in terms of both availability and fixtures. With some key players likely to be back after the international break, the fixtures easing a little and still a lot of teams (and points) between Sunderland and the bottom three, I strongly expect the feeling will be at this point that a 'firefighter' appointment isn't necessary. The drop-off in performance levels since Mowbray's departure is hugely alarming, all the same - it's going to take a big effort to stop this campaign ending in anything other than bitter disappointment. Dodds has a long-term future at the club regardless of whether he becomes a candidate for the job in the summer, and so I could see another change only if the situation becomes critical. Despite being very concerned about the direction of travel, I don't think that will happen.

Thoughts on why Timothée Pembélé didn’t come on? Maybe not the right game, or not deemed good enough?

A really good question. In terms of the game itself, Dodds obviously had a choice between Pembélé and Callum Styles once Dan Ballard was forced off with an injury. In that moment, I don't think it's a big surprise he went with the player not only with more EFL experience and more to the point, better match sharpness having played a lot more recently. With Styles being a left footer, it also made sense in terms of the balance of the side.

More broadly though, Pembélé is surely a player we need to see more of after the international break moving into the summer. Pembélé had arrived in the summer off the back of an injury-hit year or so, and as a result it was always the expectation that he would take a while to settle and impact the team. In fairness, the continued excellence of Trai Hume meant it was a position in which you could afford to sign a player of future promise. He had some additional injury setbacks in the first half of the campaign which didn't help his progress, but he has been fit for a while now. Sunderland's coaching team feel that in time he can add a lot more going forward, but there is also a feeling that he's needed time to adjust to the intensity of the Championship. On balance, that's probably been the case with too many of the recruits from last summer - though Hume is a very obviously difficult player to dislodge.

With some big decisions to make at the end of the season, however, Pembélé is surely one of a few players who must be in line for game time.

Why do we start so slowly and have Adil Aouchiche and Nazariy Rusyn earned a start?

Do we need a more settled team?

Dodds has I think been trying to find some stability in selection with so many key players absent (hence why Luis Hemir got two starts last week), but it's certainly the case that they've paid for poor starts to the games against Swansea City and Southampton in particular. Dodds explained after the Southampton game that he'd wanted to keep Chris Rigg in the side after his impressive performance against Leicester, and that he and Adil Aouchiche were competing for the same position given how he planned to set up.

He made clear, though, that Aouchiche had significantly improved his chances of starting this weekend by again impressing from the bench - and Rusyn will most definitely be back in contention. Given Sunderland's struggles to create chances, I don't think Aouchiche's claim in particular can be ignored.

While we can certainly accept that the slow starts have in some cases been a case of the set up/selection not working, it's also true that reflects a struggle all three head coaches this season have had in getting consistency from the forward players. In terms of injuries, Dodds has also had the weakest hand.

We're basically left with a development team due to injuries and the model. Will the board now understand the need for balance in the next window with probably more money to spend?

Sunderland's starting XI on Saturday was the youngest they have fielded in recent times and was in fact the youngest Championship side ever recorded by stats website Transfermarkt.

That's some context to their recent form in the absence of so many key players, but I agree it probably offers some pause for thought in terms of the summer window. The side that was promoted from League One and did so well last season had a core of players who were established at the level and offered a great deal of experience - and consistency of performance as a result.

If Jack Clarke does leave as seems likely, then that should allow for Sunderland a greater budget to invest in the players who believe they can take the club forward in the long run, and I do think most are happy in principle with the model of trying to build a young, attacking team. The evidence of the second half of this season is that in the rigours of a Championship campaign, a better balance is needed. You'd like to think that's a discussion being had behind the scenes at the moment, and you wouldn't be surprised if it's made by some potential head coach candidates.